The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has accepted court enforceable undertakings from St Vincent's Private Hospital Sydney and the hospital's Department of Anaesthesia over an alleged anticompetitive arrangement between the private anaesthetists in the department.
Since at least the early 1990s, the members of the department have adopted and put into effect an arrangement for allocating amongst themselves all permanent anaesthetic work performed at the hospital.
The ACCC has conducted an investigation into the anaesthetists' conduct and considers that the arrangement was likely to have contravened section 45 of the Trade Practices Act 1974, which prohibits anti-competitive arrangements containing exclusionary provisions.
To address the ACCC's concerns, the department and hospital have provided undertakings to the ACCC pursuant to section 87B of the Act that:
- the department of anaesthetists will no longer allocate amongst themselves the permanent anaesthetic work performed at the hospital, and
- St Vincent's Private Hospital Sydney will be responsible for allocating all permanent anaesthetic work, and will establish procedures under which hospital proceduralists can request the allocation of their preferred anaesthetist to their lists or sessions.
The department has also undertaken to implement trade practices law compliance training for its member anaesthetists, to instil awareness of their obligations under the Act.
"This is another timely reminder that all industry professionals, including members of the medical profession, are not immune from the operation of the Trade Practices Act, and must ensure that they comply with their legal obligations," ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel said today.
A copy of the undertaking, as well as more information on how the Trade Practices Act 1974 applies to industry professions, including the medical profession, is available on the ACCC's website at www.accc.gov.au.